Death Note

Series Similar to Death Note

If you enjoyed Death Note, these series share similar themes, tone, and quality. Each recommendation is scored on genre overlap, tonal match, and critical acclaim.

1. [Oshi no Ko]

   2023 · Drama, Anime, Fantasy, Mystery · returning

   Recommended for similar Anime / Fantasy profile.

   Sixteen-year-old Ai Hoshino is a talented and beautiful idol who is adored by her fans. She is the personification of a pure, young maiden. But all that glitters is not gold.Gorou Amemiya is a countryside gynecologist and a big fan of Ai. So when the pregnant idol shows up at his hospital, he is beyond bewildered. Gorou promises her a safe delivery. Little does he know, an encounter with a mysterious figure would result in his untimely death—or so he thought.Opening his eyes in the lap of his beloved idol, Gorou finds that he has been reborn as Aquamarine Hoshino—Ai's newborn son! With his world turned upside down, Gorou soon learns that the world of showbiz is paved with thorns, where talent does not always beget success. Will he manage to protect Ai's smile that he loves so much with the help of an eccentric and unexpected ally?

2. Berserk

   1997 · Anime, Fantasy, Horror · ended

   Recommended for similar Anime / Fantasy profile, highly rated (8), also on NTV.

   Berserk is a 25-part anime set in a dark fantasy/horror environment whereby the series focuses on the main character guts; a lone swordman who later meets up with a group of mercenaries called the band of the hawk. The leader of this band holds a strange necklace called a behelit that will only lead to evil.

3. Steins;Gate

   2011 · Drama, Anime, Fantasy, Science-Fiction · ended

   Recommended for similar Anime / Fantasy profile, highly rated (8.3).

   The microwave is a time machine. Okarin proved it. The self-anointed mad scientist nuked bananas into some gelatinous version of the future. Or maybe it was the past. Doesn't matter. No one thought he could do it, but he did it anyway. He sent text messages through time to people he knew. To his friends. Some of them female. Pretty. He should have been more careful. He should have stopped. Tampering with the time-space continuum attracts unwelcome attention. Clandestine organizations of nefarious origins take notice. SERN. Always watching. Okarin knows; he can feel their eyes. That s why he started the top secret Future Gadget Lab. To stop them. You should join. We get to wear lab coats, and it's dangerous. Danger is exciting because it's deadly. The microwave is a time machine. Steins;Gate is a surreal viewing experience that s an absolute must watch for all fans of sci-fi.

4. Devilman Crybaby

   2018 · Action, Anime, Fantasy · ended

   Recommended for similar Anime / Fantasy profile.

   The protagonist Akira Fudo learns from his best friend, Ryo Asuka, that an ancient race of demons has returned to take back the world from humans. Ryo tells Akira that the only way to defeat the demons is to incorporate their supernatural powers, and suggests that he unite with a demon himself. Akira succeeds in transforming into Devilman, who possesses both the powers of a demon and the soul of a human. The battle of Devilman and Akira Fudo begins.

5. Attack on Titan

   2013 · Anime, Fantasy, Horror · ended

   Recommended for similar Anime / Fantasy profile, highly rated (8.9).

   Known in Japan as Shingeki no Kyojin, many years ago, the last remnants of humanity were forced to retreat behind the towering walls of a fortified city to escape the massive, man-eating Titans that roamed the land outside their fortress. Only the heroic members of the Scouting Legion dared to stray beyond the safety of the walls – but even those brave warriors seldom returned alive. Those within the city clung to the illusion of a peaceful existence until the day that dream was shattered, and their slim chance at survival was reduced to one horrifying choice: kill – or be devoured!

6. Paranoia Agent

   2004 · Drama, Anime, Fantasy, Horror · ended

   Recommended for similar Anime / Fantasy profile, highly rated (8).

   An elementary school kid dubbed with the title "shounen bat" or "lil slugger" has been going around attacking people with his bent, golden bat. Now, two detectives are investigating so they can stop this kid from making any more attacks, but they will find out soon enough... that this case is much more than they expected.

7. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

   2002 · Action, Anime, Science-Fiction, Thriller · ended

   Recommended for similar Anime / Thriller profile, highly rated (8).

   Major Motoko Kusanagi is a beautiful but deadly cyborg that is squad leader of Section 9-the Japanese government's clandestine unit assigned to battle terrorism and cyber warfare. Surrounded by an expertly trained team, Motoko faces her ultimate challenge- the Laughing Man- a terrorist who orchestrated a kidnapping and extortion plot many years ago and has suddenly reappeared. In order to discover the identity of this enigmatic criminal, Motoko and Section 9 are drawn into a deadly labyrinth and they ll have to use all their expertise to survive.

8. Boku Dake ga Inai Machi

   2016 · Anime, Fantasy, Thriller, Mystery · ended

   Recommended for similar Anime / Fantasy profile.

   Struggling manga author Satoru Fujinuma is beset by his fear to express himself. However, he has a supernatural ability of being forced to prevent deaths and catastrophes by being sent back in time before the incident occurred, repeating time until the accident is prevented. One day, he gets involved in an accident that has him framed as a murderer. Desperate to save the victim, he sends himself back in time only to find himself as a grade-schooler one month before fellow classmate Kayo Hinazuki went missing. Satoru now embarks on a new quest: to save Kayo and solve the mystery behind her disappearance.

9. Zankyou no Terror

   2014 · Drama, Anime, Thriller · ended

   Recommended for similar Anime / Thriller profile, hidden gem.

   In an alternate version of the present, Tokyo has been decimated by a shocking terrorist attack, and the only hint to the identity of the culprit is a bizarre video uploaded to the internet. The police, baffled by this cryptic clue, are powerless to stop the paranoia spreading across the population. While the world searches for a criminal mastermind to blame for this tragedy, two mysterious children—children who shouldn't even exist—masterfully carry out their heinous plan. Cursed to walk through this world with the names Nine and Twelve, the two combine to form "Sphinx," a clandestine entity determine to wake the people from their slumber—and pull the trigger on this world.

10. Monster

    2004 · Drama, Anime, Crime, Horror · ended

    Recommended for similar Anime profile, highly rated (8), also on NTV.

    Kenzou Tenma, a Japanese brain surgeon in Germany, had it all: incredible skill at his work, a rich and beautiful fiancee, and a promising career at his hospital. However, after becoming disenchanted by hospital politics, he chose to save the life of a young boy who got shot in the head over the life of the mayor. As a result he lost the support of the hospital director, as well as his position in the hospital and his fiance. A short time later, the hospital director and the doctors that replaced him were murdered, and once again he was catapulted back onto the top. But as the chief suspect of the murders, Tenma did not get a easy life. As a matter of fact, it seems that the boy he saved was much more than he had appeared to be... Now to clear his name and to correct his past mistake, Tenma must get to the bottom of these and other murders, and investigate the truth of the Monster who is.